travel.to vs Airalo
Airalo has the biggest catalog. travel.to has the cleaner buying flow + an honest refund policy.
Airalo is the largest eSIM marketplace by country coverage but the UX optimizes for picking through hundreds of carrier-branded plans. travel.to abstracts that — three editorially-picked plans per country, our pick highlighted.
Side by side
How the two compare on what matters.
Feature
Airalo
travel.to
Notes
Feature
Starting price (1 GB)
Airalo
~$4.50 (1 GB · 7 days)
travel.to
$19 (5 GB · 7 days)
Notes
Airalo wins on absolute floor price. We don't sell sub-5GB because <2 GB rarely lasts a working day.
Feature
Country coverage
Airalo
200+ countries / regions
travel.to
20 countries live · expanding weekly
Notes
Airalo has the larger map today. If your destination isn't live with us yet, email us — we prioritise weekly.
Feature
Plans per country
Airalo
5–20 carrier-branded plans · pick yours
travel.to
3 editorially curated plans · we pick the middle one
Notes
Fewer choices = faster purchase. Most buyers value the "Our pick" recommendation over the long list.
Feature
Refund policy
Airalo
Case-by-case · "must contact support"
travel.to
100% if it fails to activate · 50% if it activates but underperforms · one-click
Notes
Our policy is on the home page. Theirs requires a support ticket.
Feature
Carrier transparency
Airalo
Plan labels show the carrier
travel.to
Country page lists every carrier we route to
Notes
Both transparent. Theirs at the plan level, ours at the country level.
Feature
Top-up flow
Airalo
Same eSIM · top-up via dashboard
travel.to
Same eSIM · top-up via dashboard
Notes
Identical capability.
Our angle
Why travel.to over Airalo.
-
1
Three plans per country instead of fifteen — no decision fatigue. Our pick is labeled.
-
2
Refund policy codified on the home page, not buried in support docs.
-
3
Country pages designed for working travelers (carriers, speed band, timezone, roaming gap) rather than vacationers.
-
4
Faster path from "I need an eSIM for Spain" to a working eSIM (one search, one click, one email).
travel.to vs Airalo
Questions before switching.
Airalo and travel.to both sell eSIMs; the difference is the buying flow and the guarantee. travel.to picks one plan per country instead of a wall of SKUs, and backs it with a full refund if it fails to activate and a half refund if it underperforms.
Airalo has a larger raw catalog, so for an obscure destination we do not cover yet, they may be the only option. Where travel.to is live, our cleaner flow and refund policy are the reason to switch.
Yes. Full refund if the eSIM never activates, half refund if it activates but underperforms, and the full amount back if you used under 500 MB. It is one click from your dashboard, not a support ticket.
No. An eSIM is a software profile, so there is nothing to ship and nothing to return. Buy a travel.to plan, scan the QR, and the new profile installs alongside anything already on your phone.
Yes. Any eSIM-capable phone — iPhone XS and newer, recent Pixel and Galaxy — works with travel.to. eSIM hardware is the same regardless of which provider issues the profile.
travel.to has no subscription. You pay once per plan, per country, and Stripe adds local tax at checkout based on your billing country — the price you see is the price you pay.
Try travel.to · pick a destination.
100% refund if it fails to activate. You'll know within 60 seconds of landing.